Softball Weekly Release - Week 9

(l-r): Harvard's Rachel Brown, Columbia's Liz Caggiano and Penn's Georgia Guttadauro

Stats/Leaders (PDF)

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Harvard posted a weekend sweep of Brown en route to clinching the North Division for the third consecutive season and the fifth time overall (divisional play dates back to 2007). At 15-1 on the year in Ivy League play, the Crimson also clinched the right to host the 2012 Ivy League Championship Series for the second year in a row.

The Bears did all they could to keep Harvard, which has now won 14 consecutive Ivy League games, from clinching home field for the series, including falling by the score of 2-1 in the series’ first two games, the first of which took 10 innings and a Jane Alexander walk-off home run to decide. Dartmouth and Yale split the other North Division Series over the weekend, with the Bulldogs taking the first two games and the Big Green rebounding to take the final two.

While the North Division is all decided with one weekend to play, the South Division is still up in the air after Penn took three of four from Cornell to tie the Big Red in the standings. Both enter the final weekend with identical 11-5 Ivy records. Penn has four games left at home versus Columbia, while Cornell will play four games at Princeton. At 8-8, the Tigers are also still in the South Division race as well. This past weekend, the Tigers split at Columbia.

Should two teams tie atop the South Division standings following this weekend’s games, a one-game playoff would take place to decide who will play Harvard in the 2012 Ivy League Championship Series.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Penn sophomore Georgia Guttadauro (Carlise, Mass.) led the Quakers to a 4-1 record last week, including a 3-1 mark versus Ivy foe Cornell that allowed Penn to enter the final weekend of play tied for the South Division lead. The first baseman slammed two home runs in the series versus Cornell, with both of those coming as part of Penn victories. The first homer proved to be the eventual game winner of game two on Friday as Penn came back from 5-0 down with two innings to play for a 9-6 win.

Guttadauro had hits in four of five games last week, including three multi-hit games. She also went error-free in 28 defensive chances. She batted .533, posted six RBI and added a stolen base to go with three runs scored. She becomes Penn’s first Ivy League Player of the Week since Brooke Coloma shared the award on April 27, 2010.

Guttadauro's Weekly Stats
5GP, 15 AB, 3 R, 8 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 K, .533 Avg., .533 OBP, .933 Slg.%

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Harvard senior Rachel Brown (San Diego) helped Harvard to a second Ivy North Division Sweep of the season, taking four games from Brown. After surrendering a solo home run in the top of the first in Game 1, Brown pitched nine no-hit innings to lead Harvard to a 2-1, 10-inning victory as she collected a season-high-tying 14 strikeouts. Then on Saturday, she fired a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out five to earn her 17th win of the season. She started the week with four innings of shutout ball against Boston University, striking out six.

All told, Brown racked up 25 strikeouts to go with a 0.33 ERA in 21 innings of work for the week. Brown, the 2011 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, has now earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors five times this season and has 12 such honors in her career, including three as a junior and two as a freshman and sophomore.

Brown's Weekly Stats
0.33 ERA, 2-0, 3 App., 3 GS, 2 CG, 21.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 25 K

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Columbia freshman Liz Caggiano (Bellaire, Texas) was a menace at the plate this week, hitting .467 with three home runs, seven RBI, three runs scored and five walks. She posted a 1.067 slugging percentage and a .600 on-base percentage. Caggiano was unstoppable in the Lions' doubleheader against Fairleigh Dickinson on April 18, going 4-of-5 at the plate with two home runs, three RBI and two walks against the Knights. In the final game of Columbia’s four-game series against Princeton, Caggiano set the tone early with a three-run homer to center in the first inning to lead the Lions to an 8-2 win. She was also named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on March 6.

HONOR ROLL
Alexis Borden, Penn (Fr., P - Yorba Linda, Calif.)
2.14 ERA, 3-0, 4 App., 1 Sv., 3 GS, 2 CG, 19.2 IP, 19 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 22 K

Brooke Darling, Columbia (Fr., P - Springville, Pa.)
1.08 ERA, 2-3, 5 App., 3 GS, 26.0 IP, 27 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 15 K

Chelsey Dunham, Yale (So., P - Fairfax Station, Va.)
2.45 ERA, 2-1, 3 App., 3 GS, 20.0 IP, 18 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 12 BB, 10 K

Britta McOmber, Dartmouth (So., 3B - Bothell, Wash.)
5GP, 9 AB, 3 R, 6 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, .667 Avg., .727 OBP, 1.222 Slg.%

Alex Peyton, Princeton (Jr., P/1B - Fullerton, Calif.)
0.72 ERA, 1-2, 4 App., 3 GS, 2 CG, 19.1 IP, 15 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 12 K

Kristen Rumley, Dartmouth (Fr., P - Katy, Texas)
1.17 ERA, 1-2, 3 App., 3 GS, 1 CG, 18.0 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 26 K  

Allison Scott, Harvard (So., C/1B - Alpine, Calif.)
5GP, 12 AB, 5 H, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K, .417 Avg., .533 OBP, .417 Slg.%

Kayla Shimoda, Columbia (Fr., OF/2B - Alea, Hawai'i)
6GP, 15 AB, 2 R, 7 H, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB, .467 Avg., .529 OBP, .667 Slg.%

Stephanie Thompson, Brown (Jr., SS - Chino, Calif.)
4GP, 7 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 8 BB, .429 Avg., .733 OBP, 1.000 Slg.%

Kelsey Vandebergh, Princeton (Sr., IF - Beaverton, Ore.)
6GP, 20 AB, 2 R, 9 H, 4 2B, 1 BB, .450 Avg., .500 OBP, .650 Slg.%

NOTES
NCAA Leaders
Brown junior infielder Stephanie Thompson is second in the nation in batting average through games played on April 22 with a .484 mark. Sam Fischer of Loyola Marymount is first with a .512 average. Thompson's slugging percentage of .874 is ninth in the nation and her on-base percentage of .565 ranks sixth. Thompson is also the fifth toughest batter in the nation to strikeout, as she has just two strikeouts in 95 at bats.

Harvard senior pitcher Rachel Brown checks in at sixth nationally with a 9.7 strikeouts per seven innings average, while she ranks third with a 3.72 hits per seven innings mark.

Cornell junior catcher Kristen Towne ranks tied for 14th in the nation with a 0.33 doubles per game mark. Big Red senior Lauren Marx ranks tied for 9th in the nation with four saves on the year.

A New Home
Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy along with head softball coach Rachel Hanson announced that the Dartmouth Softball Park, an on-campus facility, would play host to the team's home opener on Friday, April 6, which turned out to be a 1-0 win over Penn.

The $3.1 million project includes wrap around seating for 400 fans, sunken dugouts, bullpens, batting cages, press box, scoreboard and an artificial FieldTurf playing surface with superior drainage capacity. The team will use a locker room, training room and public restrooms that are already located within the Chase Field Complex. The new Dartmouth Softball Park will also have the capability to live stream all home softball games.

Ivy Title Talk
Dating back to 1980, the first season of Ivy League softball play, six Ivy teams have combined for 35 titles in the 32 seasons of play. Yale won the inaugural title in 1980, while Princeton leads the League with 17 titles. Cornell, Brown and Harvard each have five titles, followed by Yale (2) and Penn (1). In 2010, Cornell prevailed in Game 3 of the Championship Series over Harvard, 3-2, for its second title in as many seasons, before Harvard halted that streak by sweeping the Big Red in 2011.

The softball championship series, which pits the regular season champions of the North and South Divisions against each other, began in 2007. That season, Harvard defeated Penn in consecutive games to win the first Ivy League Championship Series. The Cimson have now represented the North in five of the six League Championships series (all but 2009 when Dartmouth won the North Divison).

Ivy League Championship Series History
2007 -- Harvard (North) vs. Penn (South)
Game One: Harvard def. Penn, 4-0
Game Two: Harvard def. Penn, 4-2
Harvard wins series, 2-0 (Soldier Softball Field // Cambridge, Mass.)

2008 -- Harvard (North) vs. Princeton (South)
Game One: Princeton def. Harvard, 4-2
Game Two: Princeton def. Harvard, 5-1
Princeton wins series, 2-0 (Class of 1895 Field // Princeton, N.J.)

2009 -- Dartmouth (North) vs. Cornell (South)
Game One: Cornell def. Dartmouth, 4-0
Game Two: Dartmouth def. Cornell, 5-1
Game Three: Cornell def. Dartmouth, 6-1
Cornell wins series, 2-1 (at Niemand*Robison Field // Ithaca, N.Y.)

2010 -- Harvard (North) vs. Cornell (South)
Game One: Cornell def. Harvard, 3-1
Game Two: Harvard def. Cornell, 4-2
Game Three: Cornell def. Harvard, 3-2
Cornell wins series, 2-1 (at Niemand*Robison Field // Ithaca, N.Y.)

2011 -- Harvard (North) vs. Cornell (South)
Game One: Harvard def. Cornell, 5-0
Game Two: Harvard def. Cornell, 4-0
Harvard wins series, 2-0 (at Soldiers Field // Cambridge, Mass.)

2012 -- Harvard (North) vs. TBD (South)
(at Soldiers Field // Cambridge, Mass.)

The 17-Ivy Win Plateau
Since the Ivy schedule format change in 2007, a team has finished with 17 or more League wins five times and won its division on each of those five occasions. In 2008, Princeton set the record with an 18-2 mark en route to claiming the South Division title. In 2009, Cornell became the second team to crack the 17-Ivy win plateau with a 17-3 record to take the South Division. Then in 2010, both the North (Harvard) and South (Cornell) Division winners reached 17-wins. In 2011, Harvard tied for the most League wins all-time at 18-2 while becoming the fifth squad to win at least 17 Ivy games and win its division.

College Sports Madness Honorees
College Sports Madness names National Players of the Week for NCAA Division I softball and the website also selects Players of the Week for 30 conferences, including the Ivy League:
March 5 - Stephanie Thompson, Brown
March 12 - Rachel Brown, Harvard
March 19 - Kasey Lange, Harvard
March 26 - Georgia Guttadauro, Penn
April 2 - Alexis Borden, Penn
April 9 - Lauren Bucolo, Cornell
April 16 - Kasey Lange, Harvard
April 23 - Rachel Brown, Harvard

2012 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
March 6 - Kasey Lange (Harvard)
March 13 - Alyssa Schmidt (Princeton)
March 20 - Jane Alexander (Harvard)
March 27 - Stephanie Thompson (Brown)
April 3 - Stephanie Thompson (Brown)
April 10 - Kasey Lange (Harvard)
April 17 - Kasey Lange (Harvard)
April 24 - Georgia Guttadauro (Penn)

2012 PITCHERS OF THE WEEK
March 6 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
March 13 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
March 20 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
March 27 - Laura Ricciardone (Harvard)
April 3 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
April 10 - Liza Kuhn (Princeton)
April 17 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
April 24 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)

2012 ROOKIES OF THE WEEK
March 6 - Liz Caggiano (Columbia)
March 13 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
March 20 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
March 27 - Kristen Rumley (Dartmouth)
April 3 - Brooke Darling (Columbia)
April 10 - Linda Laeufer (Cornell)
April 17 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
April 24 - Liz Caggiano (Columbia)

2012 HONOR ROLLS
March 6 - Meredith Brown (Princeton), Kara Curosh (Dartmouth) Jenny Edwards (Cornell), Alyson Onyon (Cornell), Kristen Rumley (Dartmouth), Stephanie Thompson (Brown), Sydney Turchin (Penn), Kelsey Vandebergh (Princeton).